Big E highlights card in Albany

Ettore Ewen may be an unremarkable name to most. Come May 5th however, wrestling fans in Albany will have a hard time ignoring Ewen, better known as Big E, a 290 lb. former power-lifting champion, and current WWE Intercontinental Champion.

Ewen will be part of a superstar-laden Monday Night Raw at the Times Union Center, which will also feature the likes of Sheamus, John Cena, and current world heavyweight champion, Daniel Bryan.

A live WWE event is something Ewen considers to be “the best value in entertainment.”

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“If you’ve never been to a show, it’s exciting,” he explained. “It’s a bit of a spectacle with the lights and the glitz. You’ll see all your favorite performers that you see on TV mere feet in front of you. It’s always an exciting opportunity for our fans to see what we do in person. It just has a different feel from TV.”

He added, “It’ll be a big show for sure.”

Ewen grew up as a wrestling fan, following the careers of Goldberg, Ron Simmons, and Vader. More recently, he took part in WrestleMania XXX, allowing him to watch and learn from such icons as Hulk Hogan, the Rock, and the Undertaker.

But it was an encounter with Goldberg as a teenager that left a mark Ewen hopes he might one day leave on his own fans.

“I actually got to meet him at a signing probably about 15 years ago,” Ewen recalled. “It was a really pleasant experience. He was really polite. It really demonstrated to me that you can spend 20 or 30 seconds with a fan and you can leave a lasting impression.”

But life as a WWE wrestler isn’t all lights, glitz, and fans. There is a grueling schedule that sees top stars on the road for over 300 dates a year. There are live events on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, along with live Monday Night Raw shows, and television tapings for another show, Smackdown on Tuesdays. And that doesn’t even include special events such as a European tour, which Ewen states could put the wrestlers on the road for “17 straight days.”

Then there are the little things that most people don’t realize go into a WWE star’s schedule. The hardest part of life on the road, according to Ewen, is coordinating priorities.

“Making sure you’re on time for your flight, getting into town, renting a car, you have to go to the gym, get food - It takes some discipline.”

Keeping in touch with your family can also prove to be a task.

“There are guys who are married and have kids. Just really having to get your work and personal life balanced, I think can be difficult.”

Shows however, are only a portion of what the WWE offers to the public. There is another side rarely covered in today’s media. Stars regularly visit military bases and hospitals such as the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Bethesda Naval Hospital, along with frequent trips to a new facility in San Antonio.

Additionally, the company hosts one of the more unique efforts in honoring our men and women in the military – live shows known as “Tribute to the Troops” are performed in Iraq, Afghanistan, or bases throughout the U.S. Ewen himself has participated in one such event at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, in 2013, something he called “a blast.”

“Spending the day meeting, greeting and being able to say thank you to those who serve our country was something really inspiring and honestly just a really fun experience for all of us.”

The man known as Big E also went on a big spree earlier in the year, auctioning off his ring gear for thousands of dollars, and using that money to purchase gifts for Toys For Tots.

Looking ahead, Ewen doesn’t offer any predictions for how long he will continue to work in the WWE, or whether or not he will advance to becoming the world heavyweight champion at some point.

My focus is “having the best reign currently that I can have with the IC title,” he declares.

But he does offer this guarantee for fans hoping to see him on May 5th.

“I promise you that I will still be Intercontinental Champion.”

Rusty Weiss is a sports writer whose work has appeared in Fox News, the American Thinker and the Daily Caller. He has his own site, the Mental Recession, and can be reached at weiss.rusty@gmail.com